Portland ‘street family’ fight tumbles into Tualatin

Revenge among homeless seen as first case of its kind in the Washington County city

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Jun 2, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (25 Reader comments)

Courtesy of WCSO

Portland "street family" members, from left, Cole R. Nuesse, William L. Davis and David J. Billings, were arrested in Tualatin after assaulting a member of their group they said showed disrespect for women in the "family."

In the first case of its kind, three members of a Portland “street family” have been arrested in Tualatin for assaulting another member of their group.

“We’ve had some incidents with our own homeless people who live here, but nothing like this before,” said Tualatin Police Capt. Brad King. “Given how people can travel around, I don’t know how we can prevent it from happening again.”

The incident has similarities to the March 23, 2003, murder of Jessica Williams, a 23-year-old developmentally disabled woman who was killed by members of a street family in downtown Portland. In that case, Williams was killed for having allegedly disrespected other family members.

In the Tualatin case, a family member was beaten for allegedly showing disrespect to female family members, according to King.

The Tualatin incident began on Friday when resident Jodilee Christian, 31, brought several members of the street family to her home at 20400 S.W. Martinazzi Ave. No. 17. King said Christian occasionally socializes with homeless people in Portland and sometimes brings them home.

In this case, Tualatin police responded to a report of an assault at Christian’s home at 11:18 p.m. on Friday. As they arrived in the area, the officers located Jeffrey Robertson, 23, a transient from the Vancouver area, about a block away. He had what appeared to be significant facial injuries and identified several members of the Portland street family as suspects.

The officers went to Christian’s home, which she allowed them to enter. Once inside, they found one of the suspects, David Joseph Billings, 24, and took him into custody on an outstanding Multnomah County warrant.

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